God
Lazio
Video Games
Computers
Somewhere around 1996, my paternal grandfather was cleaning out his closet and ran across his original 640K IBM XT clone which looked very similar to the real deal. He gave it to me, along with an ancient EGA ISA card and EGA monitor-- I had so much fun with that thing!
It was surprising how well 1980s DOS games ran on it; titles like "Maniac Mansion" or the DOS version of "Megaman", or text games such as "ZZT". There was even this untextured polygon science fiction tank game which had surprisingly steady performance on the 8088.
Funnily, after I had installed the EGA card I could smell burning: I immediately flipped the PC off and realized I hadn't seated the card all the way! The slots from the very early 1980s were much less reinforced than something like modern-day PCI-Express; things were a little wobbly or "mushy"; no affirming "clicks" or other feedback.
Not to mention, motherboards of that era-- and even well into the 90s-- had a good half-dozen dipswitches you had to have set correctly, otherwise you'd fry the whole thing! Plugs were also not dummy-proof, so you could definitely connect them in backwards and short everything out that way too.
Metaphors
If (God willing) I do go on to ordination one day, and (God save us) I am preaching after that time, I think I will use a lot of metaphors. It's so much easier to understand something by way of analogy or mental picture!
The danger with metaphors: there is that concept in philosophy where "the thing" and the understanding of "the thing" in our minds are obviously not the same; fidelity to the truth is lost. This point was well-illustrated by an old friend of mine who used to say, "All models are wrong; some models are useful".
Further, during a homily the metaphor-- already imperfect in the deliverer's mind-- must be communicated to the congregation. Playing "telephone" adds a second layer of risk. A third layer of risk is that the subject in homiletics is often God, who is intrinsically incomprehensible.
But, if the metaphor is carefully thought through, the concessions as to its accuracy are clearly explained, and it is framed by adequate context, I think they can be a powerful catechetical tool.
Another thing related to homiletics I've noticed is that the subject matter often differs between roles. In my parish, our pastor gives pastoral-oriented talks, since that's his role! "What messages do I need to communicate to shepherd my flock in the correct direction?" It could even be encouragement to participate in a bake sale, if that's what's required at that moment.
By contrast, our parochial vicar leans more towards Theology and Scripture analysis, how to spiritually orient oneself towards God, and how to apply those concepts practically.
Our deacon then leans into the relatable: "I once saw this movie, maybe all of you saw it too, where this character..."-- he bridges (minister of the threshhold) complex Theological concepts with humble references people already know and understand.
Some of that is personality-oriented; but I also sense there is some degree of "staying in one's lane", especially when it comes to someone like myself who will be preaching as a deacon. I have both "intellectual" and "analytical" in my top five "Strengths Finder" traits, so a risk for me is to be too abstract in my homilies. I think simple, practical metaphors can go a long way towards mitigating that risk.
Mantova
For those who don't know, Lazio got knocked out of the Coppa Italia by a mid-table Serie B team yesterday in the preliminray round. They will now only be playing in Serie A for the next nine months.
I've been watching Lazio for twenty-two seasons, so I've seen some "clunkers"-- yesterday's game was rock bottom: the single-worst Lazio performance I've ever seen. They didn't get knocked out as in "dominated the game but got unlucky": no, they looked like a third-division side from the first minute to the last. A casual observer would have thought Mantova was the "bigger" team.
The stadium was almost completely empty, except for a section into which they hard corraled two thousand traveling supporters. All one could hear through the entire game were those fans; it felt like an away fixture. And that will be the case literally the entire season: no home games, so-to-speak.
The players themselves looked leggy and exhausted. Zaccagni didn't play a good game the entirety of last season, and he looked just as terrible yesterday. Coaching-wise, Gattuso reminds me of Igor Tudor: one of those coaches who focuses on motivation, but with almost zero emphasis on tactics.
Lazio couldn't even pass the ball properly without turning it over, and they were completely outclassed by a team where the most expensive player was worth two million EUR on the market-- I had checked them out on "Transfermarkt", and they reminded me of the old "NSC Stars", pre-Minnesota United era.
We are at serious risk of relegation this year. I'm not sure from where forty points will be acquired. Even teams like Udinese sound like terrifying opponents at this moment. We need a striker, and we need a central defender, ASAP.
It was surprising how well 1980s DOS games ran on it; titles like "Maniac Mansion" or the DOS version of "Megaman", or text games such as "ZZT". There was even this untextured polygon science fiction tank game which had surprisingly steady performance on the 8088.
Funnily, after I had installed the EGA card I could smell burning: I immediately flipped the PC off and realized I hadn't seated the card all the way! The slots from the very early 1980s were much less reinforced than something like modern-day PCI-Express; things were a little wobbly or "mushy"; no affirming "clicks" or other feedback.
Not to mention, motherboards of that era-- and even well into the 90s-- had a good half-dozen dipswitches you had to have set correctly, otherwise you'd fry the whole thing! Plugs were also not dummy-proof, so you could definitely connect them in backwards and short everything out that way too.
Metaphors
If (God willing) I do go on to ordination one day, and (God save us) I am preaching after that time, I think I will use a lot of metaphors. It's so much easier to understand something by way of analogy or mental picture!
The danger with metaphors: there is that concept in philosophy where "the thing" and the understanding of "the thing" in our minds are obviously not the same; fidelity to the truth is lost. This point was well-illustrated by an old friend of mine who used to say, "All models are wrong; some models are useful".
Further, during a homily the metaphor-- already imperfect in the deliverer's mind-- must be communicated to the congregation. Playing "telephone" adds a second layer of risk. A third layer of risk is that the subject in homiletics is often God, who is intrinsically incomprehensible.
But, if the metaphor is carefully thought through, the concessions as to its accuracy are clearly explained, and it is framed by adequate context, I think they can be a powerful catechetical tool.
Another thing related to homiletics I've noticed is that the subject matter often differs between roles. In my parish, our pastor gives pastoral-oriented talks, since that's his role! "What messages do I need to communicate to shepherd my flock in the correct direction?" It could even be encouragement to participate in a bake sale, if that's what's required at that moment.
By contrast, our parochial vicar leans more towards Theology and Scripture analysis, how to spiritually orient oneself towards God, and how to apply those concepts practically.
Our deacon then leans into the relatable: "I once saw this movie, maybe all of you saw it too, where this character..."-- he bridges (minister of the threshhold) complex Theological concepts with humble references people already know and understand.
Some of that is personality-oriented; but I also sense there is some degree of "staying in one's lane", especially when it comes to someone like myself who will be preaching as a deacon. I have both "intellectual" and "analytical" in my top five "Strengths Finder" traits, so a risk for me is to be too abstract in my homilies. I think simple, practical metaphors can go a long way towards mitigating that risk.
Mantova
For those who don't know, Lazio got knocked out of the Coppa Italia by a mid-table Serie B team yesterday in the preliminray round. They will now only be playing in Serie A for the next nine months.
I've been watching Lazio for twenty-two seasons, so I've seen some "clunkers"-- yesterday's game was rock bottom: the single-worst Lazio performance I've ever seen. They didn't get knocked out as in "dominated the game but got unlucky": no, they looked like a third-division side from the first minute to the last. A casual observer would have thought Mantova was the "bigger" team.
The stadium was almost completely empty, except for a section into which they hard corraled two thousand traveling supporters. All one could hear through the entire game were those fans; it felt like an away fixture. And that will be the case literally the entire season: no home games, so-to-speak.
The players themselves looked leggy and exhausted. Zaccagni didn't play a good game the entirety of last season, and he looked just as terrible yesterday. Coaching-wise, Gattuso reminds me of Igor Tudor: one of those coaches who focuses on motivation, but with almost zero emphasis on tactics.
Lazio couldn't even pass the ball properly without turning it over, and they were completely outclassed by a team where the most expensive player was worth two million EUR on the market-- I had checked them out on "Transfermarkt", and they reminded me of the old "NSC Stars", pre-Minnesota United era.
We are at serious risk of relegation this year. I'm not sure from where forty points will be acquired. Even teams like Udinese sound like terrifying opponents at this moment. We need a striker, and we need a central defender, ASAP.